How Great Stories Can Help Point You to the Gospel
Aaron Armstrong:Then, at twenty-five, I became a Christian. A lot of things (thankfully) changed in my life, but one thing that stayed the same was my love of reading. In fact, it gave me an entire part of the bookstore I’d never bothered to look at before to begin to explore! But what’s interesting is that as I grew in my faith, I didn’t move away from my love of fantastical worlds or gritty crime drama or simple tales of mopey, socially awkward record store owners. If anything, my love of those increased because I found in them a connection point to the gospel.
When Life Is Tough, You Need This Vision of Jesus
J. D. Greear:You see, in times of intense persecution, you don’t need a sentimental Jesus who simply makes you feel warm at night—a Jesus who is one part genie, one part therapist, one part life coach, and the rest warm blanket. You need to see a Jesus sovereign over all the other powers at work in the world.
We Can’t Save Our Kids
Jamie Ivey:As a parent, I sometimes fall into that trap of scaring my children into salvation. I mean, what Christian parent doesn’t want their children to follow Jesus? We all do, and if we’re honest we would save them if we could. But we can’t. As much as I want to make my children good disciples of Jesus, the truth is that I can’t. Only God can call their names. I can’t get them on the guest list, or have them say enough of the right words, or even have them pray a prayer that will get them salvation. It’s out of my hands.
Do You Know Jesus or Know About Jesus?
Christians, social media, and (in)civility
Jason Thacker:The temptation of social media is that we feel more informed and connected than ever before as a society, even though we still do not have full knowledge of any given situation. James’ exhortation to us in his letter is to “be quick to hear” because we are not gods and never will be, regardless of what our devices try to tell us. Our lack of information should humble us and give us pause. We are all fallible creatures who serve an infallible and perfect God. He alone has all of the information and context. We fool ourselves into thinking that we know everything the moment a controversy ignites online.
Where Do Women Fit in Gospel Ministry?
Lisa Harper:The Most Sane Kind of Insanity
Michael Kelley:And maybe those onlookers have a point. Worship doesn’t make us any richer. It doesn’t make any of our problems go away. It doesn’t cure our diseases or fix our broken relationships or stop us from being under appreciated by our bosses or spouses. True enough, worship changes our perspective on all these circumstances, but we don’t walk out of a worship experience with everything perfect.
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